


Brother, Don't You Know Me? Lover, Don't You Know Me?

by A_Plethora_Of_Peters



Series: UMM (Urban Magic Mechanisms) [1]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Altered Mental States, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Cannibalism, Canon-Typical Violence, Dehumanization, Gen, Graphic Description of Corpses, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Implied/Referenced Torture, Jonny is a ghoul, Loss of Identity, Multi, Past Torture, Polymechs - Freeform, Temporary Amnesia, mentions of past attempts/thoughts of auto-cannibalism, not like Tokyo Ghoul sort, past animal death (referenced), polycule, traditional D&D sort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:48:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25693804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Plethora_Of_Peters/pseuds/A_Plethora_Of_Peters
Summary: The Ghoul is hungry.It stays quiet about this fact.The last time it had tried getting attention for food, its tormenters had beaten and burned it as punishment.They hadn't given it food until it was hungry enough to try eating itself.The Ghoul is very hungry though.
Relationships: The Mechanisms Ensemble & The Mechanisms Ensemble, The Mechanisms Ensemble/The Mechanisms Ensemble
Series: UMM (Urban Magic Mechanisms) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863256
Comments: 28
Kudos: 131





	Brother, Don't You Know Me? Lover, Don't You Know Me?

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warnings for this story:  
> \- graphic descriptions of cannibalism  
> \- mentions of attempted/thoughts of auto-cannibalism  
> \- murder/death/consumption of animals (specfically a cat, referenced)  
> \- violence  
> \- gore  
> \- past torture (burning)  
> \- body horror (bones not moving right, limbs being the wrong proportions, skin being wrong texture, muscles moving strangely, inhuman body parts)  
> \- loss of self  
> \- dehumanization (not by the Mechanisms!)  
> \- magical manipulation  
> \- starvation
> 
> If you have any additional triggers for me to tag, feel free to comment and tell me to tag them as well!
> 
> This came from a weird dream I had and the idea wouldn't leave me so I grabbed the thought and ran with it! Shout out to Zelda, Toby, Abby, and everyone else on the NSFW Mech server for assisting me in making this! Y'all are the best!

The Ghoul is hungry.

It stays quiet about this fact.

The last time it had tried getting attention for food, its tormenters had beaten and burned it as punishment. 

They hadn't given it food until it was hungry enough to try eating itself.

The Ghoul is very hungry though.

It doesn't know how long it has been since they fed it last.

The bones of the dead cat, the first thing that they had thrown to it to eat, mock its hunger, the flesh and gristle long since gnawed off their surfaces, the marrow sucked from the core of each tiny bone.

The man they had tossed in had lasted longer even if he had screamed as it ate him until it ate his heart. 

It absently finds the man's thigh bone and chews on it even though it too has been picked clean.

There are the skeletons of rats too, the former occupants of this place it is trapped in, but they barely made a dent in its hunger.

The bones from the steaks they had tossed it are also stripped clean and lay in crosses and hollow rings on the floor.

The Ghoul is hungry, but then again it is always hungry.

It is starting to contemplate trying to eat itself again, just to have some meat in its belly, when the walls of the lightless, underground room that it is chained in shakes.

The Ghoul is hungry, but even hunger will bow to curiosity.

It looks up as it strains its senses to find out what is going on above it.

There are shouts, screams, cries of fear and hate.

It can hear the brittle snapping of bones, can smell the intoxicating scent of blood, can feel the air filling with the residue of spent magic.

Oddly there’s the faintest sound of a violin playing that seems to orchestrate the chaos. 

The Ghoul's hunger rises.

A feast is soon to begin.

Dust and a few trickles of blood fall from cracks in the ceiling as the room shakes again.

It stands under the trickles with an open mouth, eagerly drinking the blood until the precious fluid runs dry.

It licks up any blood it misses off of the floor and its chin.

The Ghoul's hunger is blunted.

For a time.

It hears footsteps nearing the door at the top of the stairs, the only distant source of light in this hole.

It retreats to a far corner in the back and crouches in the shadows there.

The man's thigh bone is still clutched in its thin, too long fingers.

It is ready to spring on whoever or whatever will eventually come down here.

The Ghoul is still hungry and it will feed.

The air gets a bit warmer as the door is forced open by something and dim light streams down the steps, giving brightness and color to its dim monochrome world.

Old blood stains go from black to rust.

Scraps of cloth from the man it had eaten are suddenly bright and also stained in rust.

Bones are now an off white that reminds it of how empty of flesh they are.

The sight just makes the Ghoul hungrier.

The chain that binds it to the center of this room gleams coldly in the light.

It doesn't recognize the slow footsteps on the stair as one of its tormentors. 

It can smell the stranger's fear, their worry, their anger. 

It can see them pause halfway down the stairs. 

It thinks that they can see the alternating silver and cold iron links that attach to its collar.

It hopes they come down more.

The Ghoul is very, very hungry.

The feet, booted and almost hidden behind a long dark wool coat that brushes the stairs as they walk down them, shift slightly. 

It coils in anticipation as they shout something back up the stairs.

Yes, summon companions.

They will feed The Ghoul as well.

They continue walking down the stairs and slowly walk further into the room.

It waits until they reach the back where the chain is connected to the floor, etched with runes.

Runes of binding to keep it from escaping.

Runes of obedience to make it obey its tormentors every command.

Runes of submission to keep it placid when its tormentors command it to be still.

The not-tormentor gets down on one knee to touch the chain lightly, a perplexed look on their face.

It uncoils, leaping in one smooth motion.

They barely have the chance to turn, to look up at it before it's upon them.

It slams its improvised weapon into their shoulder, knocking them onto their back.

They cry out as it drops the bone and lands on their torso, pinning them beneath its knees.

There will be time for disemboweling later.

Now is the time for capture, for intimidation.

The Ghoul pins down their shoulders with its front claws and snarls in their face, spraying the lenses of their glasses with blood and spittle.

It expects them to fight.

Everything it has ever eaten alive has fought back.

They...

They don't… 

They don't fight it?

They go limp under it instead.

Why?

Is this a trick?

It is confused by this reaction.

The not-tormentor smells of shock and sorrow.

They smell…

They smell like…

There are trembling hands on its cheeks, light as a butterfly's touch, as it stares at the babbling person beneath it.

It is confused at its own reaction.

Their light touch on its cheeks is cold but not unpleasant.

Their scent is familiar to it.

The scent is sharp and metallic like a cold winter day.

The scent is thick and warm like a soft woolen blanket.

It can smell _itself_ on them.

It forces itself to think past its hunger, to actually understand the words being spoken to it by the not-tormentor.

"-something, _Jonny_ ? Please, _мой дорогой брат_ , say that you know me? You're not eating me which is a good sign, but I need you to speak to me. I can't help you if you don't say anything-."

The Ghoul is hungry.

But this person is not food.

They are Cemetery.

It lowers its head down to rest its forehead against theirs.

They stop their talking and tense up.

Only their tears fall, unnoticed by them.

It squints into their eyes as it searches its mind on how to convey the word in a language the human will understand.

It suddenly remembers the human word for it.

It pushes the word out of a dry throat that is unused to talking, shoves the term past long sharpened teeth, slips the phrase past thirst cracked and blood blackened lips.

"C-Cemetery…" 

It can see the moment they realize that it spoke to them.

They swallow and choke back a sob.

They nod at it and their arms wrap around its neck, pulling it down into a gentle embrace.

“Y-Yes… I-I don’t know what you mean by that but I assume that means that you recognize me.”

It nuzzles their neck gently to comfort and reestablish its scent on them.

The Ghoul can feel them shiver beneath it, their breath catching as their fear spikes.

It stops and moves its head to allow them access to its own neck.

There is a pause before it feels them carefully nuzzle at its throat in return.

The Ghoul feels warm.

It knows happiness.

It has a gravemate.

It has a sibling.

" _Nastya_? You said that you may have fou- HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK IS **THAT** _NASTYA_?!"

The Ghoul jerks its head up and away from its gravemate's neck at the shout.

It snarls at the new threatdanger.

There's someone dressed in a long brown coat on the stairs with a gun pointed at it.

It can sense, can smell magic building up in the weapon.

" _TIM_! HOLD YOUR FIRE!"

Its gravemate shouts, twisting their head to try and look at the person on the stair.

"THAT'S A FUCKING GHOUL ON TOP OF YOU, _NASTYA_!"

The threatdanger shouts back.

It snarls at them glaring.

The Ghoul can smell the fear on them.

Good.

They should be scared of it.

They lower their gun.

The feeling and scent of magic building fades.

They are listening to its gravemate.

"I KNOW, BUT IT'S ALSO MY BROTHER! IF YOU HURT HIM, I WILL **SHATTER** YOU!" 

They reply before focusing back on it.

"That's _Tim_ . Do you remember _Tim_ ? He's… _бля, как ты меня назвал?_ He’s Cemetery too."

Cemetery?

Threatdanger?

It doubted that.

It narrows its eyes at its gravemate suspiciously.

There is no scent of a lie on them as they look at it earnestly.

"I promise, _Jonny_."

It huffs in response and glares at the threatdanger more.

Perhaps threatdanger is considered Cemetery by grave-mate for some reason?

The threatdanger glares back at it.

It maintains eye contact as it slowly climbs off of its gravemate.

The Ghoul crouches with its gravemate between it and threatdanger.

Threatdanger relaxes slightly.

It growls just as a reminder that it could still kill them.

It delights in how the threatdanger tenses back up afterwards.

Its gravemate groans slightly as they sit up, and gently takes hold of its wrists.

They immediately release their grasp, noting the way it flinches slightly at the motion, and touch its cheek instead.

"It's going to be okay."

They turn away from it towards the threatdanger.

They turned their back to it.

The Ghoul is hungry but its gravemate is Cemetery.

They are not to be eaten.

"Can you go get _Ivy_ ? There are runes that I don't know on the chain and the collar and I feel like part of why he's not acting like himself is because of them. Maybe tell _Brian_ to get down here too? _Jonny_ always feels safe around _Brian_."

Threatdanger frowns back at them before stiffly nodding.

The Ghoul is pleased to see that threatdanger backs up the stairs rather than turn their back on it.

Gravemate turns back to it and gently starts to groom it, running their fingers over the short fuzz on its scalp.

The movement of their fingers is delayed by clumps of dried blood at the back of its head, but they do not yank or pull on them so that their fingers can pass through.

It feels relieved.

Its tormentors had shaved its head again recently.

It didn't know why, just that it hurt a lot to do so and that since then things afterwards have felt… 

Distant, almost fuzzy.

It purrs in its throat, leaning into the gentle touch.

Gravemate will not hurt it like its tormentors did.

It trusts them.

They chuckle slightly.

"You're just a giant cat now, aren't you, _Jonny_?"

It snorts softly at them.

It doesn't appreciate being compared to a creature that it had eaten.

They laugh at it, smiling warmly, and it feels lighter.

It made its gravemate laugh.

The Ghoul looks to the stairs as it hears more footsteps making their way down.

Gravemate looks relieved as two people come down into the room.

It winces and hisses softly at the light coming from a stone in the hand of the smaller person.

Small one comes closer and speaks to its gravemate.

Meanwhile, it is distracted by the other person who accompanied the small one.

The Ghoul is on its feet, giving the small one a wide berth as it moves towards the taller person, chain trailing behind it, before it can register thinking of doing so.

The tall one stays very still as it sniffs at them curiously.

They don't smell of fear though worry and sadness is obvious.

Their scent is also familiar to it.

Like heated metal that can be laid upon for warmth.

Like polished wood to be used as a defense against harm.

They also smell strongly like the Ghoul, but in a way that is different from its gravemate.

Its scent is more mingled with this tall person's.

It purrs as the reason comes to it and gently butts its head against their shoulder.

It has found someone that it is bonded with.

It has found a mate.

It relaxes at the large warm arms that wrap around it and pull it close.

It returns the embrace, rubbing its head against their black coat, saturating the fabric with its scent.

"Oh _Jonny_ … I missed you too, _a ghrá mo chroí_." 

The tall-bonded speaks softly to it and the words are warm and gentle to its ears even if it doesn't fully understand what was said to it.

In the embrace of tall-bonded, it is suddenly aware of how different it is from its bonded.

They are tall which probably makes them hard to hide, while it is small and easy to hide.

They do not have the large pointed ears that it has, all the better to hear potential threats and prey with.

The skin beneath its claws, even through the many layers of clothes, is soft, soft, soft unlike its own tougher skin.

Its bonded has no claws to rip, no fangs to tear, no obvious instinct to rend flesh from bone and drink blood from open wounds and swallow mouthfuls of fresh warm meat.

It feels some satisfaction that it can protect its Cemetery since they obviously need it.

The Ghoul hides its face against the chest of tall-bonded as the small one draws close with their bright burning light.

They stop drawing closer when it lets out a soft whine.

" _Jonny_? What's wrong- Oh! I'm so sorry! I forgot that Ghouls are sensitive to light!"

They murmur something and the light dims to a manageable level.

It turns its head to squint at the small one reproachfully.

They do look very sorry.

The Ghoul decides to let this one slide for now.

Small one is only human after all.

They and tall-bonded and gravemate don't have the superior dark vision that it has.

The small one offers it an arm to smell, vulnerable wrists exposed to its sharp teeth.

A surrender, an offer.

Does this one wish to become Plot with the Ghoul?

To refuse the offer might upset its tall-bonded and gravemate… 

It leans in and suspiciously sniffs at their wrist.

The scent of old paper and ink and glue that reeks of the thick scent of magic, of ancient grimoires full of spells.

The smell of chalk filled with magic, meant for scrawling sprawling magic circles and scratching runes onto surfaces.

Mingling with both of these scents was the heavy scent of the Ghoul again.

Another bonded.

Small-bonded smiles as it leans over and butts its head against them gently too.

It makes sure to rub hard enough to refresh its scent on them as well.

Gravemate leans over and gently grooms it again.

It purrs happily, especially when tall-bonded shifts one arm and joins in on the grooming.

Tall-bonded speaks to small-bonded after a few moments of it purring.

"So what can you tell us about the runes on the chain, _Ivy_?"

Small-bonded sighs and ghosts their fingers over the chain.

It is glad that they are avoiding touching its collar.

"There are runes of binding, obedience, and submission. Binding at the two ends of the chain keeps him tethered to the floor and the collar, otherwise he'd just break the links and leave. Obedience forces him to obey the commands of whoever holds the chain or the matching stones with the obedience runes engraved on them."

Gravemate pauses mid-scratch, ignoring how the Ghoul whines at them for stopping, and frowns at small-bonded.

"Why include submission runes on the chain then? If he will obey orders when the chain is touched or the matching stone is activated…?"

Small-bonded pulls a face in the direction of its gravemate.

It is not a happy expression.

"To keep him from attacking them. Submission runes, these ones in particular at least, dull the natural reactions to negative emotions that being forced to obey causes. Sadness, anger, fear. Things like that. This results in a more… pliable individual."

It doesn't like how tall-bonded's arms tense around it and it can smell how angry they are becoming.

"That is… I now regret that we killed those bastards already. Should've fed them to _Jonny_ alive." 

Tall-bonded sounds disgusted.

It hopes that it's not because they are disgusted with it.

"There is evidence that that has happened. That they fed someone to him alive, I mean."

Small-bonded sounds calm but their scent betrays how angry they are too.

"The scraps of cloth and the presence of human bones points to him being fed at least one human in the 2 months that they have had him in captivity. However the blood stains suggest that the person was killed in here rather than anywhere else. Which makes sense. Ghouls feed on both the meat and blood of living creatures."

The Ghoul is pleased.

Its bonded obviously are smart and capable of anger which means despite being so soft and gentle, neither of them need it to protect them all the time.

Gravemate smells angry as well as they resume grooming it.

"Well. We still need to get him out of here. Can you break the binding runes?"

Small-bonded sighs shaking their head.

"No I cannot. I only have chalk on me and none of the prepared runes on me are capable of breaking these."

They pause thinking. 

"Though… perhaps…" 

Short-bonded lapses into silence for a few moments before they nod to themself.

They hand the dimly glowing stone to its gravemate and move towards the stairs.

" _Ashes_ should be able to melt the ones at the base at least. I'll go get them. And the others while I'm at it."

Gravemate scowls and sounds cross. 

"As long as _Tim_ behaves. He scared _Jonny_ earlier!" 

Small-bonded chuckles and nods and goes back upstairs.

They turn their back to it as they go.

It likes this show of trust.

Tall-bonded hums softly and lets go of it.

It whines softly at the loss of warmth.

They place a hand on its head and rubs gently.

"It's okay _Jonny_. I just need to cast a spell really quick."

They pull a long thin stick that smells strongly of magic out of an inner pocket of their coat and trace a vague shape onto their chest over their heart.

Their metallic scent grows stronger as tall-bonded's skin turns golden and hard.

They put the stick away and ask. 

" _Jonny_? Can I pick you up?"

It squints as it processes the question.

Its bonded wants to lift it up?

Why?

Perhaps they are worried that the threatdanger will come back to hurt it and seek to shelter it?

Tall-bonded did turn themself to metal which is stronger than even its toughened skin and sharp claws...

The Ghoul nods, stepping closer to them. 

They smile and carefully pick it up, cradling it in their arms.

It curls up in their arms with a soft pleased noise.

Despite being metal, tall-bonded is still very warm.

Gravemate smiles at it as it blinks slowly at them, trusting them both.

"You still like it when _Brian_ picks you up, eh _Jonny_?"

It purrs happily in response.

Its fingers easily wrap around the upper arm of tall-bonded.

It kneads their arm gently, hind claws draped over their opposite arm.

Its head rests on their shoulder perfectly.

It feels safe in tall-bonded's arms.

" _Brian_ ? I assume that you have _Jonny_ in your arms?" 

The Ghoul growls softly in warning.

It doesn't recognize this new voice.

Smoke, thick and spicy, fills its nose as a dark person in a striped suit comes into its line of vision from around tall-bonded's right side.

They smile at it.

They do not smell of fear or anger. 

They are sad but only a little.

They mostly smell of the sour scents of regret and shame.

The new person offers it a hand to smell.

No vulnerable wrists this time, but a wide open palm instead.

Still surrender, but one that can be turned into an attack if it proves hostile.

It approves of this reaction to it and sniffs their palm carefully.

Along with the spicy smoke they also smell of an accelerant, of gasoline.

This one also smells of it, of being bonded.

It stops growling at them and blinks slowly at them before nuzzling their hand.

Their smile widens, warmth reaching their eyes. 

It decides it loves smoky-bonded best right after tall-bonded.

Especially when they come forward to groom it with their other hand and scratch it under its chin with the hand they had offered to it.

Its eyes drift shut in bliss as it purrs loudly.

Its eyes snap open at a familiar footstep on the stairs.

Its growling returns and swells in volume, sensing that threatdanger is standing on the stairs directly behind tall-bonded.

Smoky-bonded looks back at them and their sadregretshame scent becomes amusedhappy.

"Looks like you made quite the impression on him, _Tim_."

Threatdanger just huffs as they move to stand just behind smoky-bonded, glaring at it suspiciously.

It bares its teeth and snarls at them, pressing back against tall-bonded feeling scared.

The threatdanger wanted to kill the Ghoul and its gravemate!

Smoky-bonded makes a thoughtful sound before taking hold of threatdanger's wrist.

They lift threatdanger's hand and shove the limb into its face.

It recoils, startled at the sudden hand in its face.

" _Ashes_! What are you-!?"

Threatdanger looks and smells as nervous as the Ghoul feels.

"Trust me on this, _merth_. He's not going to eat you."

Smoky-bonded looks from him to it with a steady gaze.

It meets their dark serious gaze and tries to stare them down.

It looks away first.

It understands that while it might be physically stronger, smoky-bonded is someone to be obeyed without chains to force it.

It looks at its gravemate and tall-bonded for help on what to do.

Tall-bonded looks back at it reassuringly.

Gravemate seems a bit reluctant but it understands why they are.

They were threatened by theatdanger too.

Hesitantly at first, and then with growing interest, it sniffs the back of the offered hand.

Gunpowder is the first thing that it notices, spicy and settling on its tongue thickly.

Steel for weapons and the oils for cleaning them soon follow.

Under those scents however, it notices its own scent.

The threatdanger is bonded to it too.

Suddenly their aggressive behavior towards it makes sense. 

They _are_ Cemetery, just like its gravemate had told it earlier.

They were just trying to protect its gravemate from a perceived threat: The Ghoul itself.

It headbutts the hand to acknowledge that it understands that they are bonded to it and to renew its scent on them.

It then maintains eye contact with protective-bonded as it very carefully takes their thumb into its mouth, and bites down lightly on the meat of their hand.

Not enough to rip flesh and draw blood.

Enough to cause pain however.

"Owowowowowow! He's biting me! HE'S BITING ME!"

Protective-bonded yelps in pain, tensing up.

It is pleased that they do not attempt to yank their hand away.

That was a good instinct to have. 

Play dead until an opportunity arises to fight or flee.

Tall-bonded's metal fingers immediately slip into its mouth from the side and carefully pull down against its lower jaw, prying its mouth open.

It huffs for show, and lets tall-bonded open its mouth.

It didn't want to maim protective-bonded, but they still needed to be punished for scaring it and grave-mate.

Protective-bonded snatches back their hand and examines it closely.

Smoky-bonded and gravemate laugh as protective-bonded pouts at them.

"Are we going to have a Ghoul _Tim_ running around next?"

The new voice is teasing and is accompanied by footsteps coming from its other side.

It twists around in tall-bonded's arms to look at a colorfully dressed person who mostly smells of pine sap coming around from the left side of tall-bonded.

The heady scent of petrichor wafts off of them, mixing with the dusty ozone scent of magic.

They smile at it, offering it their own hand, an intricate metal limb that oozes magic, to smell.

It does so with a growing feeling of hope and is happily surprised.

This one is bonded to it as well.

It butts against their hand too.

The Ghoul purrs as they start grooming it too.

These metal fingers are much better at massaging its scalp than the flesh and blood fingers of its grave-mate and tall-bonded.

It melts in tall-bonded's arms happily.

"Why didn't he bite you?" 

Protective-bonded sounds sulky.

They have their arms folded and are pouting.

It feels faintly smug as it bares its teeth playfully at them.

"Because I didn't threaten to shoot him as soon as I saw him." 

Sap-bonded responds with a mischievous grin. 

Protective-bonded just makes a rude gesture making it hiss a raspy laugh.

It hasn't laughed in a while.

Not since it managed to claw open the face of one of it's tormentors before they started to starve it.

Protective-bonded is shoved towards sap-bonded playfully by smoky-bonded before they speak to short-bonded.

"What did you need me to do, _Ivy_?"

Short-bonded points at where the chain is connected to the floor.

"There are runes here that bind him to this location. I don't have the means to break them, _Nastya's_ ice will take too long to get it cold enough to shatter, _Brian_ as you can see is busy with _Jonny_ wrangling and his spells are more defensive than what I need anyway. _Tim_ already scared _Jonny_ earlier so letting him shoot the runes to bits is out, _Raphaella's_ and _TS'_ magic would do absolutely nothing, and as for _Marius_ ? I'm not willing to risk one wrong note resulting in _Jonny_ getting injured or worse."

Sap-bonded makes an offended noise, putting their free hand to their chest.

They don't smell upset though.

They smell amused and fond.

Protective-bonded also gives a short laugh of their own, smiling broadly.

Oh.

It can see why it is bonded to them now.

They are beautiful when they are not scared or angry.

"So you want me to melt them?"

Smoky-bonded changes their grip on a cane in their hands.

"If you don't mind."

They nod at short-bonded and draw a sword from the cane.

The Ghoul watches intently as they trace a magic circle in the air with the sword tip, each movement leaving a mark that glowed like embers in the air.

Once the circle is complete, they plunge their sword into the heart of it.

The circle vanishes but their sword glows and steams with heat that leaves glowing trails in the air.

It squeals in fear and flinches away, hiding its face against tall-bonded's neck.

It can feel the heat from here.

The same heat that its tormentors used to-

_It keens in pain as a red-hot poker is pressed to its back._

_Its tormentor removed the poker and yells to be heard over its cries of pain._

_"Say it! Repeat what I just told you, beast!"_

_It weakly growls at them._

_It flinches as they lower the heated metal towards its back threateningly._

_"Do you want this iron pressed to your back again?!"_

_It shakes its head, whimpering._

_"Then repeat it!"_

_It chokes on its tears and opens its mouth to speak-_

It comes back to itself as tall-bonded hums softly, rubbing its back in slow circles.

It whimpers softly as it hears the heated blade sizzling and cutting through something.

"It's okay _Jonny_ … _Ashes_ isn't going to hurt you… They're getting you out of here..." 

Tall-bonded's words are echoed by grave-mate whose cold touch helps it focus on the present.

It is not being burned.

Its Cemetery is freeing it.

It doesn't have to be forced to say those hated words to its tormentors ever again.

The Ghoul is going to be free.

There's a popping sensation as the chain comes up from the floor and a hissing noise as the heat vanishes as if the sword was plunged into water.

There is a pause. 

Sap-bonded goes over to the end of the chain, and draws the end up out of the socket it had been bound into.

They have its chain now.

They are capable of doing whatever they want to it now.

They are able to order it to do anything.

They are… 

They are holding out the end of the chain to it?

"Here. You decide who you want to hold it."

It looks from the chain to Sap-bonded's earnest expression. 

It looks back at the chain and takes a hold of it gingerly.

As it does so there's a gentle rustling noise that it can't quite place and a new voice speaks from behind tall-bonded.

"Well the other gang's corpses are all piled up and ready to be burned along with the house, _Ashes_. _Ivy_ said that you found _Jonny_ , _Nastya_?"

It shifts in tall-bonded's arms to peer at the person behind them.

Its eyes widen.

Wings.

This new person has wings.

Wings means prey which means its hunger can be fed.

Without thinking, the Ghoul scrambles over tall-bonded's shoulder, its hind claws screeching against their metal body, to launch itself at the winged person.

Exclamations of surprise and swears follow it.

It lands on the winged person, forcing them to fall back onto the stairs.

It straddles their waist while it grabs onto their shoulders with careful claws. 

It knows the loose chain is trailing across the floor behind it.

It trusts its Cemetery to not take advantage of this.

The Ghoul leans in and sniffs at the winged person's neck.

It is surprised that this person is the first to smell of excitement rather than fear or sadness around it.

They smell of warm feathers, soft and gentle and ticklish.

They also faintly smell of chemicals which reminds it of something _butwhatithurtstoomuchtorememberstopthinkingaboutit_.

And once again, they smell of the Ghoul, of bonded.

It has so many mates.

It is a bit impressed with itself.

It has a good strong Cemetery.

"Oh wow! They made _Jonny_ into a Ghoul! His skin is rough but only in one direction and tough like a shark's skin! Is that a general Ghoul trait, I wonder? And his fingers are so long now! There has to be at least 5 joints in each of his fingers! Feline Ghoul anatomy is always fascinating to observe! But his legs are articulated and clawed like a Raptor Ghoul? How curious! I wonder how they achieved that? He has paw pads on his palms as well as the last segment of his digits! I wonder if his hands have retractable claws the way most cats do or if they're permanently extended claws like a cheetah? It seems that they are retractable but he's currently tense so they are extended! They shaved his head very recently judging from these nick marks on his scalp! But why shave his head and yet leave his facial hair alone? His ears are so much longer now! Are they semi-mobile like a gnome's or an elf's ears? And just look at these teeth! Amazing!" 

Winged-bonded is excited, babbling and touching and examining it with an openly curious look on their face and their eyes gleaming in excitement.

They don't hit it or burn it or cut it or drown it or crush it.

They're careful as they explore its rough skin, gently feeling the many joints of its fingers, stroking a light hand over its flanks to its hind claws following the tense muscles there, squishing the paw pads of its front claws slightly, probing at its scalp carefully.

It can tell that they are checking it over for injuries.

That’s good. 

It feels safe on their lap.

It nibbles harmlessly on winged-bonded's fingers as they peer into its mouth and examine its razor-like teeth.

"Does anyone know how recently he's been fed?" 

The question from Winged-bonded suddenly makes it remember.

The Ghoul is hungry.

It is very, very, _very_ hungry.

It groans as its hunger tears into it at the reminder, curling around its now painful stomach.

"Shit. That's probably why he initially pounced on me. He thought I was food until he could smell me properly."

Gravemate smells worried as they crouch down on the step next to it.

It looks at them, trying to keep a hold of the fact that despite being human, these people were Cemetery and not food, and rasps a single word.

"H-Hungry…"

Its cheek is gently touched by its grave-mate.

"I know _Jonny_. We're going to feed you."

Protective-bonded gives another short laugh, this one angry and full of hate.

"We have at least 5 bodies upstairs! He can eat them!"

The rest of its Cemetery visibly considers that idea, before nodding in agreement.

Tall-bonded comes over and reaches for it.

Their body is still metal and it can see more of their form through the large tears in their clothes.

Tears that it had made.

Its blood runs cold.

Tall-bonded is safe for now, but what if they hadn't been metal? 

It could've hurt or even killed tall-bonded!

It whimpers, flinching away when tall-bonded's hand touches its shoulder.

" _Jonny_? What's wrong?"

Tall-bonded pulls their hand back and crouches a step below so that they aren't towering over it.

They look and smell concerned.

It reaches a shaking hand to trace a tear in the fabric across their chest with one front claw tip.

"Sssssorry…"

It pulls its claw back and curls up on winged-bonded's lap.

"Ssssorry… ssssorry…"

It repeats itself, trembling in fear.

It's going to get punished by them now. 

They're going to hit it or cut it or burn it or drown it or crush it now.

They're going to chain it back up and leave it alone in the dark.

They're going to deny it food when it's so hungry already, so weak...

They're going to...

It is gently picked up from winged-bonded's lap and held close to tall-bonded's chest.

"Oh _Jonny_ … you don't have to apologize. I'm fine, see? You didn't even scratch me! There's no damage here that a needle and some thread can't fix." 

Tall-bonded's voice reverberates through its body like a roll of thunder.

Meanwhile, gravemate coils up the chain and sets the loops on its stomach, the cool weight grounding it.

It sniffles, trying to hold back tears, as tall-bonded carefully steps over its winged-bonded's wings, and starts carrying it up the stairs.

All of its bonded and its gravemate are so kind to it.

They forgave it for its wrongs so quickly even though it could've killed one of them.

They gave it the chain when it doesn't deserve the privilege of having control.

A few tears fall from its eyes as it loses its fight and it starts to cry.

It lets its body shake with sobs as tall-bonded's grip shifts around it, holding it even closer than before, close enough to hear their heart thumping away in their metal chest. 

Gravemate reaches up under tall-bonded's arm to take its limp hand and squeeze gently.

It hiccups as it squeezes gravemate's hand in return, careful not to hurt them with its claws.

It whines softly at the bright lights once they emerge from the dark underground room.

Gravemate releases its hand and leaves tall-bonded's side to do something that makes the lights dimmer. 

It relaxes as the rest of its bonded come up from the dark hidden room below.

"Which room did you leave them in, _Raphaella_?"

Smoky-bonded looks at winged-bonded.

"Put them in the kitchen since that room will be the easiest to rig to blow once we're done here. _TS_ is watching them to make sure none of them resurrect or anything like that."

Short-bonded leans up and kisses winged-bonded on the cheek before addressing tall-bonded.

"I have something to ask of it first so don't let _Jonny_ go quite yet!"

It turns to watch them walk down a different hallway, feeling a bit puzzled.

Gravemate distracts it by grooming it again.

"... So does anyone know what we do once we have _Jonny_ fed? Like can we… cure this? _Raph_ ? I know you were just geeking out over _Jonny_ being a Ghoul..."

Protective-bonded sounds… worried.

It isn't sure if it likes the sound of being 'cured' though.

It has always been The Ghoul. 

But its Cemetery acts as though it was something- _someone?-_ else before that.

_This one is just-_

Winged-bonded fluffs their grey wings nervously, distracting it from spiraling down into _those_ thoughts.

"... Maybe? It depends on when he was cursed, how he was cursed, and how long it has been since he was cursed."

Sap-bonded frowns, smelling confused.

"How he got cursed? He obviously was bit? That's how the curse works right? You get bit by a Ghoul and the curse is passed on to you. You crave human meat and the curse is triggered when you give in and take a bite?"

Winged-bonded makes a wobbly gesture with one hand, their wing on that side flaring out in mimicry of their hand.

"Well, it's a bit more rare, but he could've been cursed by an Unsidhe Fae."

Protective-bonded snorts and dryly speaks.

"If anyone could piss off an Unsidhe Fae into cursing him, it would be _Jonny_."

Before anyone could say anything else, short-bonded returns.

The scent of fresh blood followed them.

It looks at them and rasps.

"Feed?"

Short-bonded nods and extends a hand to it, beckoning.

"That's right _Jonny_. We have 5 bodies for you to consume."

Tall-bonded carefully sets it down on its hind claws.

It takes a couple of dramatic wobbly steps before dropping into a crouch, whining softly up at them.

It doesn't want to walk. 

It wants to be carried.

Tall-bonded looks fondly exasperated at it.

"You can walk on your own. You did it downstairs."

It huffs pouting at them.

"Come on, _Jonny_. Up you get!" 

Protective-bonded takes its arm carefully by the bicep and tries hauling it up.

It goes limp to try and stay on the floor with a loud whine.

Protective-bonded obviously takes this as a challenge.

They grunt, getting a shoulder against its chest and swings it up and across their shoulders.

It squeals in shock, grabbing onto their one arm with its front claws as their other arm curls around its knees.

" _Tim_ ? _Jonny_?" 

Tall-bonded moves towards them, looking worried.

It looks at tall-bonded startled.

"We're good! He's a mite heavier than I remember but I got him!"

Protective-bonded grins as they look at the Ghoul.

There is a look in their eyes that matches the worrynervoushopeful scent coming from them.

It blinks at them.

Oh.

They want to carry it instead of tall-bonded.

It looks up at tall-bonded and chirps reassuringly.

Tall-bonded watches it carefully for a few moments before nodding.

“Just be careful okay, _Tim_? You’re not metal like I am right now.”

Protective-bonded rolls their eyes.

“Okay **mum** , whatever you say.”

The Ghoul looks back to see its bonded all watching them go with varying expressions of caution and worry.

It waves to show that it’s okay with being carried and watches them all relax before protective-bonded rounds around the corner at the end of the hall.

The scent of blood is thicker now and its stomach growls loudly.

Protective-bonded gives it a wary look.

It twists around to gently nuzzle protective-bonded's cheek.

It trusts protective-bonded.

It knows that they will destroy it if it hurts them or the rest of the Cemetery.

It’s always good to have a member of the Cemetery who will protect the Cemetery from even the Ghoul.

"Oh, Hello Old Chaps!" 

The Ghoul looks away from protective-bonded to see a construct.

The construct is shaped like a human but doesn't smell or really look like one at all.

It can see the whorls of wood grain in their skin and the gleam of their moving painted features underneath the varnish coating them.

Protective-bonded sets it down so it can approach the construct and smell them better.

Sawdust and cedar wood primarily since that is what they were crafted from.

The scent of tea also clings heavily to them.

Its scent is on them too but fainter than any of the others in the Cemetery by far.

A hunter-provider then.

It stands beside them and rubs its shoulder against wood-creation-provider's shoulder.

Wood-creation-provider's painted lips widen as its mouth opens.

It can see wooden teeth and a wooden tongue moving behind their wooden lips

"Oh! I Missed You Too, _First Mate_ _D'Ville_ Sir!"

They turn around and push open the door they had been guarding and the thick metallic scent of blood and raw flesh washes over the three of them.

It is distantly aware of protective-bonded and wood-creation-provider talking behind it.

But they don't matter right now.

What matters is the Ghoul is hungry and it finally will be fed.

It falls upon the corpses and eagerly starts tearing into them.

It finds great satisfaction in destroying and consuming the bodies of its former tormentors. 

It rips out all of their hair and sucks out their eyeballs as retaliation for shaving its head and burning its eyes with bright lights.

The tormentor that had taken delight in picking up a blade and slicing into it, it rips limb from limb, stretching bones and sinews as far as they can go before they pop apart.

The tormentor that had burned it across its back and sides with heated metal bars, it claws out their spine and ribs in pieces and gnaws on the bones until they snap in its jaws.

The tormentor that had bound it and put a bag over its head and tried to drown it, it disembowels them, their slick internal organs consumed and their blood eagerly drunk up by it.

The tormentor that had frequently crushed and broken its bones, it breaks apart their bones between its fists and sucks the marrow from the cores easily in return.

The final tormentor, the Ghoul simply consumes slowly, relishing in how their soft fattened flesh tears beneath its fangs just the same way that its flesh had parted to their spiked knuckles.

It is distantly aware of wood-creation-provider doing something close to it but it pays them no mind.

There is a feast to be had and they are not getting in The Ghoul’s way.

It isn't sure how long it takes to consume the bodies, but it knows that when it's done, it can think clearly for the first time in… well it can’t quite recall. It stretches its aching limbs out and notices that wood-creation-provider is watching it with the chain from it’s collar looped around their arm. 

The whole chain. 

It reaches up to the collar around its throat and purrs, finding the loop where the chain had attached is empty. It clears its throat and speaks carefully to them. "Thank you for removing the chain from this one's collar."

Wood-creation-provider beams and snaps a salute at it. "Miss _Alexandria_ Asked Me To Do So! So You Should Thank Her As Well!"

It can think clear enough now to register the use of pronouns. Not that Ghouls used personal pronouns but humans did and it vaguely recalled that was important to humans. So since short-bonded had asked to speak with wood-creation-provider, this meant that short-bonded used she/her pronouns and was called Miss… something _Idontrecallcantrecall_ by wood-creation-provider.

"This one will remember to thank her." It tells them seriously. 

Wood-creation-provider nods at it before saying. “Jolly Good! The Others Are Waiting For Us. Shall We Go Rejoin Them Now?" 

It nods and lets them take the lead as they leave the now bloodsoaked room. Waiting outside looking worried is protective-bonded. They look at them obviously relieved. 

"Feeling better now, _Jonny_?" They ask it.

It nods and steps close to hold them close. "Mmmm. Not hungry anymore." It nuzzles their chest, spreading its scent on them. It decides that it needs to listen and remember what their pronouns were too. They were Cemetery after all. It would be rude to them not to address them properly.

Protective-bonded rubs their back gently. "Good. That's good." They lightly rub their fingers over its scalp. "Shame about your hair. You were really giving me and _Brian_ a run for our money with how long it was getting."

It used to have even longer hair than what its tormentors would let grow out to before shaving it? Well then... It smiles up at them. "Ripped theirs out. It hurt shaving this one's hair. This one was made to not see clearly. So this one repaid them in kind."

"This one?" Protective-bonded echoes it. "Huh. _Ivy_ said you might be speaking a bit weird now, but that's not the sort of thing I was expecting." They groom him some more before adding. "Good on you for getting rid of their hair like they did yours."

The Ghoul purrs happily, nuzzling them again. Eventually it steps back and says. "To the Cemetery?" Protective-bonded raises an eyebrow, looking amused at it, and nods. Wood-creation-provider and protective-bonded flank it on either side as they make their way back out to the rest of its Cemetery. 

They have moved since it went into that back room to feed. Its Cemetery are now in a room that reeks of old magic and blood. It has been fed though so the blood scent doesn't make it hungry. They are in large sturdy wood chairs around a matching table. Spread out before them are papers that they are sorting through.

They all look over when wood-creation-provider chirps. "Hullo Everyone! Mister _Pulver_ and I have returned with _First Mate D'Ville_!"

" _Jonny_!" Gravemate is on their feet and rounding the table, hugging it tightly, before anyone else can say or do anything. They pull back and cup its cheeks in cold hands. "Are you feeling better now? You aren't hurting right?"

It purrs happily and leans in to nuzzle their neck gently. It notices the rest of its Cemetery tense at the action so it pulls back to speak. "This one is much better. It doesn't hurt and it has eaten so it will not slip up and harm its Cemetery by accident."

"It?" Gravemate's expression flattens. The only sign of their anger is their scent. " _Jonny_ what do you mean by it?"

It looks at them confused before slowly saying. "This one is an it?" It hesitates before dropping its gaze to the ground like it had been trained to do and recites those words. The ones it didn't want to say but were now ingrained into its mind. "This one is just a beast, a thing, not fit for anything but garbage disposal."

It flinches as protective-bonded spins around and punches the wall beside the doorway. Their hand goes through the thin plaster easily. Smoky-bonded is at their side in moments soothing them with gentle touches to their back and shoulders 

Gravemate makes a soft choking noise, their eyes welling with tears. They hold it close and say. "I… you're **not** a thing, _Jonny_. I promise.” It purrs to sooth them unconsciously as it holds onto them back. It looks over their shoulder at the rest of its Cemetery.

Tall-bonded has a wide eyed look of stunned sadness on their bearded face and tears are falling from their eyes. Winged-bonded has a serious look that makes it want to flinch away from them. Sap-bonded rubs their metal hand over their mouth, eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. Short-bonded frowns, a determined look on her face.

“ _Nastya_. Bring _Jonny_ here. I have a strong suspicion about that collar he’s wearing.” She gestures for them to go to her. Gravemate pulls back reluctantly and leads it over to short-bonded. It’s pushed into one of the chairs and short-bonded leans over to examine its collar closely. 

“Well Ivy?” Sap-bonded says after a few minutes, looking unusually serious. “What’s your verdict?”

Short-bonded hums before addressing the Ghoul. “I am going to ask you some questions and you will answer them honestly.” She shoots the others a glare. “I will not tolerate any interruptions from anyone so unless I address you directly, you are to remain silent.”

“This one will answer as truthfully as it can.” It agrees with her.

She nods and starts questioning it. “What is the earliest thing that you can recall?”

It frowns thinking before saying. “This one recalls its tormentors giving it a dead cat to feed upon.”

“Do you know who we are?”

“You are this one’s Cemetery.”  
  


“Do you know who we are as individuals?”

“This one has many bonded, a gravemate, and a hunter-provider.”

“Do you remember our names?”

The Ghoul hesitates. It promised it would answer them as truthfully as it could but it didn't want to upset them… It sighed and admitted, not looking at her. “No. This one recognizes your scents and it can smell itself on you all, but it cannot recall your names even after you say them in front of this one.”

There was a stifled noise of shock from one of the others as short-bonded asks. “What do you call us then if you have no names for us?”

“The first one that this one met is its gravemate. You and the one that carried this one out of the dark beneath are short- and tall-bonded respectively. The dark one with the canesword is smoky-bonded. Protective-bonded was originally called threatdanger by this one since they threatened it and its gravemate. The one with a metal arm is sap-bonded. This one destroyed tall-bonded’s clothing leaping onto winged-bonded. Wood-creation-provider opened the door for this one so that it could feed.”

Short-bonded looks taken aback at this long statement. When she recovers, she asks. “You used they pronouns for _Tim_ , for protective-bonded as you called him. Do you not recall his pronouns?”

“No, this one did not want to assume. It will remember that they- that he uses he/him pronouns in the future however.” It carefully says. 

Protective-bonded spoke up, ignoring the dirty look that short-bonded gave in response. “Not all the time. Sometimes I use she/her but I’ll tell you when I do so.”

It looks at them- at him and nods. “This one thanks you for telling it.”

“Whose pronouns do you know for certain now?” Short-bonded asks.

“Wood-creation-provider told this one that you use she/her. That is the only other one that this one knows. It is... sorry for not knowing.”

“Do not apologize for not knowing anything. For future reference, your gravemate along with winged-bonded also use she/her. Sap-bonded only uses he/him. Tall-bonded uses he/him as well as ve/vem pronouns. Smoky-bonded is the only one of our Cemetery that uses they/them. Wood-creation-provider uses it/its pronouns much like you are using right now.”

It looks at each person as short-bonded tells it their pronouns and nods once she is done. “This one thanks you. It will remember these for the future.”

She puts her hands on its shoulders and says very seriously. “Now, I want you to answer this particular question as completely and as honestly as possible: Does the name _Jonny D’Ville_ mean anything to you?”

It frowns as the words slip from its mind as soon as she says them. “No. This one cannot… focus on the name that you just told it.” After a few moments, it decides to add. “It has noticed that when you all say that name, you are referring to the Ghoul. 

She sighs and nods releasing its shoulders. She looks at the others and says. “There are several sigils on the collar. An advanced form of the binding runes that the chain had to lock the collar into place. A pair prevent the collar from being grown or him being shrunk to slip it off of him. There is a sigil that will trigger him to spontaneously combust if the collar is forcibly removed by non-magical means.” 

It realizes then that its Cemetery knows him by he/him pronouns. It considers the pronouns. They don’t entirely fit it but it will allow its Cemetery to keep using he/him for it.

“There are three additional sigils.” Short-bonded continues. Her hand reaches up to touch the shaved sides of her head where it can see that she has three sigils tattooed onto her scalp. “All three are variants of memory modification spells. The first eliminates any memories of his past before the collar was placed onto him. The second erases any memories of bonds that he had before the collar was put onto him.” 

She heaves a shaking breath before quietly speaking into the silent air of the room. 

“The third sigil ensures that he has no concept of himself at all. No name, no pronouns, nothing but a blank slate for someone to imprint their own desires and views upon.”

**Author's Note:**

> Translations (in order)  
> мой дорогой брат = my dear brother  
> бля, как ты меня назвал? = fuck, what did you call me?  
> a grá mo chroí = my heart's beloved  
> merth = valuable, beautiful, fine


End file.
